Tag Archives: Music Review

EP REVIEW: PLAIINS – Puppet – self-released

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It’s not every day you come across a band with members from Hong Kong, Israel, and Germany, giving them such universally diverse perspectives as the shameless genre-benders of PLAIINS – let alone ones with the musical chemistry to create an EP like Puppet (Self-Released). Through a seamless blend of punk, indie, hardcore, and alternative rock, the multicultural trio uses their range of experiences to oppose political issues from around the globe. Thus, making them lyrically relatable across nations, as well as sonically appealing to indie and punk fans alike.Continue reading →


ALBUM REVIEW: Trophy Eyes – Suicide And Sunshine

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Five years and a near-breakup since their last full-length record, Australian rock outfit Trophy Eyes have fortunately returned for the foreseeable future. The long-awaited fourth album, Suicide And Sunshine (Hopeless Records) has reinforced the connection shared between the four-piece band. In the process, they made their most vocally, musically, and emotionally diverse collection of songs yet. 

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ALBUM REVIEW: Black Duck – Black Duck

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Black Duck can best be described as a supergroup featuring as it does key members of the Chicago music scene such as guitarist/bassist Douglas McCombs (Tortoise, Eleventh Dream Day), guitarist Bill MacKay (Broken Things, Sounds of Now), and drummer Charles Rumback (Colorlist, Leaf Bird). I confess to only really being familiar with McCombs due to his involvement in those bands who I’ve listened to for a number of years and hence why my interest was peaked when selecting this album for review purposes. 

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ALBUM REVIEW: Black Rainbows – Superskull

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Stoner rock is often thought of in the same dim light as Doom, but this Italian band has dropped an album that serves as an example of how the two genres differ. While stoner rock and doom both share DNA with Black Sabbath, these guys ride on their riffs with a boogie that share a similar cactus patch as Clutch. They do pay homage to Sabbath, mainly in the singer’s piercing declarations that sound like Ozzy by way of nineties grunge. Their fuzz-laden riffs focus on grooving, rather than carrying the stark undercurrent of aggression that powered Sabbath’s darker guitar sound. 

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EP REVIEW: Sicksense – Fools Tomorrow

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While the leading names in Nu-metal are ones that started twenty to thirty years ago, bands like Sicksense bring high hopes for the genre’s future. Testing the limits of the style Linkin Park and Korn made history with, the group shares their second EP, Fools Tomorrow (Sound Escape Agency), a sequel to their debut EP Kings Today. They each promote the idea of holding on tight to the throne earned from major achievements, stating that it could always be pulled from right under you if your hard work ceases. 

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ALBUM REVIEW: The Used – Toxic Positivity

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From the album title alone, it is evident that The Used are just as sincere in their art as they’ve always been over the last two decades. Nine albums deep into their career, the emo quartet have graced us with the blunt Toxic Positivity (Hassle Records). The record calls out the detrimental mindset of suppressing negative emotions, addressing how it worsens one’s mental health over time due to ignored bottled-up feelings. 

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Crosses (Deftones, Far) Shares a Remix of “Day One (Machinedrum Remix)”

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Crosses a.k.a. ††† the duo made up of Deftones’ Chino Moreno and producer/multi-instrumentalist Shaun Lopez has shared a new remix of their track “Day One (Machinedrum remix).” You can stream the track on all DSPs and watch an official visualizer below. This is the first new music from the band since their cover of George Michael’s “One More Try” for their annual Christmas covers series. The group released their new EP, Permanent.Radiant (read our review here).  Continue reading →


ALBUM REVIEW: The Amity Affliction – Not Without My Ghosts

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When any kind of metal band promotes their new material as “the heaviest music they’ve ever made”, it’s usually met with eye rolls from fans who have heard this very promise time and time again from their favorite groups who failed to deliver. Hearing this from The Amity Affliction, a group that has always stood on the lighter side of metalcore, I was one of the skeptical ones. Ever since the Australian quartet released their instant classic Let The Ocean Take Me in 2014, each album following has paled in comparison. 

Until now.

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ALBUM REVIEW: As Everything Unfolds – Ultraviolet

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Breaking through the UK with their enchanting blend of alternative rock and metal, British quintet As Everything Unfolds continue developing their recipe for success with their sophomore album, Ultraviolet (Long Branch Records). The record’s name is inspired by a metaphor for gaining new perspectives on life and is an astoundingly fitting descriptor for the aural experience achieved by each track’s dynamic arrangements. 

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EP REVIEW: Atreyu – The Hope Of A Spark

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Having approached their twentieth year of being a staple in the metalcore scene, the prodigies of Atreyu still haven’t lost their spark (no pun intended) with the new EP The Hope Of A Spark (Spinefarm Records). Drawing from the commonalities of the quintet’s personal lives, each song is truly a shared effort among the five of them – not only musically, but conceptually.

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